Author's Note: I'm working hard on twists and turns with my co-pilot on this flight of chapters, GencoOliveOil! Thanks for all your advice thus far, it keeps me going strong! This chapters for you! You always keep me in line!

I find this chapter's quotation slightly ironic. Only because of who the founder of the statement is!

Heartland:

Chapter 9: The Chase

Quia natura mutari non potest idcirco verae amicitiae sempiternae sunt

(Since nature cannot change, true friendships are eternal.)

-Horace

Juliet sat up. It was darkness other then the moon and the stars that were out tonight. She narrowed her eyes, feeling the wetness on her face and wiped the sweat off of her. There was no nightmare tonight, but something else had woken her up. She glanced down at Sawyer who was laying down beside her. She shook her head before crawling out of their little make-shift tent, which they'd all created for themselves using fallen trees, making roofs from the larger tree leaves. She made sure to get far enough away from the little village they'd recreated on the beach before she leaned over by the treeline, letting herself wretch.

She took a deep breath, sitting down a few feet away and frowning. She still felt slightly nauseous. She glanced over at the tents where everyone was sleeping. She sighed, leaning back against a tree and closing her eyes. She'd never gotten sick on the island before this moment, and that worried her. She groaned before she leaned over, having to once again vomit.

After a few minutes, when she finished emptying the contents of her stomach, she stood and rubbed her temples, closing her eyes. At least she felt a bit better now that she'd done so. She frowned when she stopped and opened her eyes, and froze, staring out a little passed the tree line and seeing her. Rachel. But she knew it wasn't Rachel, it was that damned smoke monster. It had to be. Obviously it had wanted her attention, and now it had it. She headed towards it, and watched as it started leading her.

Where could it possibly be bringing her? And why the hell was she following it? She should have woken up Sawyer, told him what was going on. But it was too late for that. She'd lose the damn thing if she turned back now. She moved a little quicker with the realization that she was getting close to losing it now.

It only took maybe a half hour for her to lose the smoke monster that was masquerading as her sister. She silently cursed herself, glancing around at her surroundings. She was stupid for wandering off into the night by herself. She knew better then that, but for some reason the knowlege to not do it, hadn't stopped her. She sighed, leaning her back against a nearby tree. When she looked up, she saw Rachel again. Obviously it wasn't too keen on having lost her, it wasn't done leading her just yet.

She had come this far, she decided, taking steps towards it. She would keep following the stupid thing. She needed to know what it wanted now.

~*~*~ Back at the Beach ~*~*~

Sawyer opened his eyes, first noticing the lack of a body next to him. It only took a second for him to realize Juliet wasn't there. He got out of the tent, immediately looking around. She was nowhere in sight. "JULIET!"

Kate shot up at Sawyer's voice, and ran from her own make-shift tent, noticing everyone else was doing the same. "Sawyer? What's going on?"

Sawyer was practically frantic now. "She's gone!" he stated, as if they all should have already known. "She's not here!! JULIET!"

Jack watched the con-man in shock. He'd never seen him quite so paniced about something before. "Sawyer, calm down.."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Doctor Tot," he yelled. "JULIET!" he called out once more.

Kate glanced at Miles, Jin, Hurley and Dan. All of them appeared unsure of what to do or say. "Follow her footprints in the sand first, Sawyer.." she said gently, pointing down by his tent.

Sawyer glanced down. Leave it to Kate to be the logical one at this point. He did as she suggested, following her foot prints in the sand with the rest of them following. He stared in confusion at what he came across.

"Is she sick?" Jack questioned, looking at Sawyer.

"Dude.." Hurley said, looking disgusted. "That's kinda rank.."

Sawyer rolled his eyes, watching as Miles smacked Hurley. "She hasn't been sick at all," he stated to Jack. He glanced around.

Kate frowned. "She went a little over this way.. and it appears like she got sick again.."

Sawyer frowned now. What was wrong with Juliet, and where had she disappeared to? "Where'd she go next?"

"Looks like.." Kate started, following the trail of footprints into the forest. "This way.." she stated, pointing her hand. She crouched down at the start of the foliage, glancing at some of the broken twigs and Juliet's footprint. "I'd say it was.. around a half an hour ago.. give or take a few minutes or so."

Sawyer untucked the gun from his pants. "I'm goin' after her.."

Kate stood, looking at him. "I'm going with you."

"Me too," Miles stated.

Jin put a hand on Sawyer's shoulder. "I will also help you find her."

Jack nodded. "Same here.."

Hurley shrugged. "I'm slow, but I wanna help too. She's like family now, right?"

"Count me in.." Daniel stated, speaking for one of the first times in the few days they'd been on the beach.

Sawyer nodded at all of them. He should have known they'd all want to look for Juliet as well. He had a hard time forgetting right now that this wasn't three years ago, that Juliet was practically like Kate now. Everyone loved her, even Kate had formed some sort of bond with her. This would be another of those times where he went chasing after Juliet, he thought as he led the others into the forest. All of them were armed and ready.

()()FLASHBACK()()

Sawyer groaned, sitting up. He should have realized right away what she had meant when she'd told him to figure out what he would do if the others truly did come back. He watched the nurse enter the room just as he was standing up.

"Oh my.. Mr. LaFleur.. You need to stay in bed!" she scolded, heading over towards him.

"Ain't stayin' in bed, Nurse Betty," Sawyer said with an eyeroll. "I gotta go fix somethin'."

The nurse frowned, taking him literally. "You're not in any condition to leave, Mr. LaFleur, Horace said.."

Sawyer sighed. "Yeah yeah. I know what Horace said," she stated, heading to the door. "Tell him I said to shove it."

The nurse looked shocked at the statement as she watched him go out the door.

Sawyer smirked, feeling relatively good at what he'd just done. It had been far too long since he'd gotten to thoroughly tell someone off that wasn't Miles. He noticed Juliet not to far off in the distance, he assumed, heading towards the house she'd been sharing with Amy. "Juliet."

Juliet turned, surprised by the voice she heard. She stared at Sawyer in shock as he came up to her. "What the hell are you doing?" she questioned. "You can't be running around rampant, you just got shot, in case you forgot!" she exclaimed with a groan.

"Well I wasn't done speakin' yet," Sawyer stated casually.

Amy looked on with Horace, both of them surprised at the sudden confrontation between the two. She grabbed Horace's hand, stopping him from going over to them. "She's about the only one whose going to get him back into that bed, Horace.."

Horace glanced at her, then looked back at LaFleur and Juliet. He nodded slightly.

Juliet looked flabberghasted. "Are you out of your mind?" she questioned. "I have the right mind to shoot you in your other shoulder!"

Sawyer grinned, letting his dimples show before he raised his good arm, taking her hand in his. "It's been a year, Juliet.." he told her. "You and I both know if they were comin' back, we'd have found 'em by now," he explained. Although he hated admitting they had been abandoned, he had to believe it was true. He knew he'd keep looking, if anything, but he'd pretty much lost hope. But he'd look for as long as it took.

Juliet frowned, then shook her head. "Did they drug you or something?" she questioned sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "I'm getting you back into that bed."

"I ain't goin' back until you talk to me about this," Sawyer stated, not budging from his spot, and holding back a gutter comment that flashed through his mind about her getting him back into bed.

Juliet pulled her hand from his, folding her arms across her chest and narrowing her eyes. "There's nothing to talk about."

"She ain't comin' back, do you expect me to wait here like a puppy for her forever?" he asked, watching her face cloud over in thought. "My feelings for her have changed, because some crazy blonde seems to have wormed her way into here," he stated, tapping his chest where his heart was.

Juliet couldn't help the way her eyes softened at his words. The feeling that emerged in her was strange, and she wasn't quite sure how to explain it. He always had an odd way of expressing himself, and somehow she found it charming at this point. She groaned, shaking the thoughts from her head. She couldn't concentrate on that right now. "James.." she said quietly. "You're going to hurt yourself, please, will you just go back to the infirmary?"

Sawyer frowned, although happy she was concerned about him, it wasn't what he wanted. "You ain't gonna leave me in there and not come see me are you?"

Juliet didn't reply, instead she simply stared at him.

"You know I'll just go walkin' out again and find ya' again," he told her with a grin.

Juliet sighed, rolled her eyes, and couldn't help but smile a little in response. "No James, I won't do that," she stated.

Sawyer smiled. "Good."

Juliet's features softened once more as she took his hand in hers. "Now will you go back?"

"One more thing," Sawyer answered. He leaned forward, placing his lips against hers.

Juliet's eyes widened slightly in surprise. She hadn't been expecting it. She felt her eyes simply close on her own, and her hand go to his cheek in response. Was she accepting the kiss? She swore, she'd just been fighting him about getting involved and now here she was, kissing him back? She was losing her mind. She pulled away once she came back to her senses and stared at him.

Sawyer just grinned at her. "Yep.. I'll go back," he said. "I'll see you later?"

Juliet simply nodded as he let go of her hand. She watched as Sawyer walked back off towards the infirmary. How the hell had he done that? He'd just rendered her completely speechless.. she shook her head, glancing around and noticed quite a few people were staring at her now, including Amy and Horace. She felt the pink tinge heat up her cheeks and hurried off to her house. Great, she'd just been made the center of attention due to public display of affection.

Was this why he always reacted so weird when she had chastely kissed him those two times before? Was he simply reacting the same as she was now?

()()END FB()()

Sayid stepped out of the bushes, watching as Juliet squatted down, her hand on her stomach. He walked up behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

Juliet stood quickly, turning to grab whoever was behind her and was surprised at who she saw. "Sayid?" she questioned quietly, the surprise obvious in her face and her voice.

"Are you alright?" he questioned, glancing at her. He had seen her following another woman. He'd followed her because of that. "Who was that woman?"

Juliet frowned, glancing around and noticing it was gone. "I'm fine.. and that was.." she said, unsure of how to explain it. "That was.. the smoke monster."

Sayid narrowed his eyes, raising an eyebrow up at her statement. "That was a woman."

"No.." Juliet replied with a shake of her head. "The smoke monster can look like whatever it wants.." she admitted to him. "It took the form of my sister."

Sayid would have laughed if he hadn't been sure she was completely serious. "Where is Sawyer?" he finally asked, realizing she was alone out here.

Juliet frowned. "He's back at the beach.. with everyone else."

Sayid could tell something was off with her. From what he could tell when he had seen her and Sawyer in the caves, something was obviously going on between the two. Why would she have gone off alone following a smoke monster, and leave him? It didn't make any sense. But then again, three years ago, she hadn't made too much sense to him either. "Maybe it would be best if I took you back to the beach."

Juliet glanced around, looking for any signs of the monster. What in the world had it been leading her to? To Sayid?

"Don't move!"

Juliet turned almost immediately in shock, backing up slightly.

"I said don't move."

Juliet stopped moving, freezing at the sight of the gun. She glanced behind her, and noticed and Sayid was nowhere in sight. Where the hell had he gone, and how had he done it so quickly?

Phil frowned, noticing who he'd just caught. He hadn't expected to find either LaFleur, or Juliet. He had to wonder why she was alone out here. He glanced at Jerry beside him. "Call Horace."

Jerry nodded, holding down the button on his walkie. "Horace, come in."

"Yeah, Jerry?"

Jerry was just glad he could give good news to Horace. "We have Juliet."

There was silence over the walkie for a few moments. "Bring her in."

"Yes boss," Jerry stated, nodding at Phil. He aimed his gun at Juliet.

Juliet took a deep breath. This was bad. There was no option to run, not with two guns on her, she noted, watching as Phil came closer to her. She frowned, what the hell was she supposed to do?

"Turn around, Juliet.." Phil told her. "And put your hands behind your back."

Juliet narrowed her eyes, already filling up with worry. This wasn't good at all. She did as he said, turning around and putting her hands behind her back. She winced when she felt him tie her hands, noting he tied them tighter then was really necessary. Probably still pissed about what had happened back in Dharmaville, she decided.

"I'm sorry, Juliet," Phil stated as they moved forward, Jerry keeping his gun on her. "I wish it didn't have to be like this, but.."

Juliet smiled sadly. "I know, Phil."

Phil just nodded. He was never really that good with words. He was always just straight-forward. But right now, there was no straight-forward. This woman had been a part of their big family for three years, and as far as he could tell, she'd never done anything but what she'd been told to do. She'd simply been loyal to LaFleur. Maybe that was her problem. Her love for the man had simply masked her ability to see what he did wrong. It was the only explaination he could come up with.

Juliet marched forward in silence with the two men until they came up to the parked Dharma van on the path. She watched as Jerry opened the side door to the back and she got in without being asked, watching as Phil sat down across from her. She glanced out the side of the van as the door shut, remaining silent. So she would be a prisoner in the barracks all over again.. it was de-ja-vu in 1977.

()()!FLASH-FORWARD!()()

The cries were what woke her. She glanced at the man sleeping beside her and smiled with a shake of her head. She got up off the bed gently, doing her best to let him sleep on through the night as she walked into the next room over. She walked over to the crib and smiled down at the baby in the crib. She reached her hand into the crib, smiling as the baby took hold of her finger and proceeded to coo.

Her smile could only grow as she glanced up, looking out the window of the house. It still felt strange to her. To be living in Oregon. She sighed, a part of her felt like this couldn't last forever. But another part of her told her to stop dwelling on the past. This was the present, here, in 1978.

She looked back down at the baby, and could only smile again, wiggling her finger in the baby's hand. Everything would be okay.

()()END FB AND CHAPTER()()

Whoa. :)